Concert Reports

Taylor Swift

Haim, Vance Joy

08/26/2015, Staples Center, Los Angeles

Seven-time GRAMMY Award winner Taylor Swift is in the midst of her The 1989 World Tour that kicked off on May 20, 2015 in Louisiana. Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy is the main support along the North American tour. The 1989 World Tour will encompass eight countries and span four continents including North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Taylor Swift‘s massive 1989 World Tour camped out at the Los Angeles Staples Center where Taylor not only performed a five sold-out nights run which began on Aug 21st, but the singer set an all - time record at the venue with 16 sold out shows ( coincidentally the same number of Laker’s Championships ) At the first show Los Angeles Laker’s star Kobe Bryant surprised Swift with a banner commemorating the singer’s most sold out performances that will permanently hang at Staples Center next to the many Laker’s Championship Banners.

On the final night of the 5 Sold Out Night Run on August 26 the singer turned in a performance that was emotionally connecting to the diverse audience. Swift has the unique ability to address an arena size crowd and individually connect with each person no matter what their age. Swift opened the show with "Welcome To New York," which set the tone for the night with staging that was tastefully elaborate while complimentary to the music. Her cluster of male dancers also added a flavor of broadway throughout the night.

The energy never wavered as Swift followed up with “New Romantics”, "Blank Space" and a remix of "I Knew You Were Trouble” off the 2012 CD Red. Her voice resonated and was clean in the mix on the final show, no small feat considering Swift’s high energy elaborate production amid deafening screams. At one point Swift thanked the fans for knowing all the words, but even a casual fan or newbie would be entertained by her showmanship and stage show. A fun addition to the show were the light-up bracelets that were provided on everyone's seats that changed color during different songs.

As with the previous night’s shows the star studded guest appearances were an added treat, and it seems the singer saved the best for the last as she pulled out all the stops for this show. First out was Taylor BFF Selena Gomez who sang her new single "Good For You" with Taylor. The song described as “The Song of The Summer” by Swift was interestingly the first time Gomez has performed the song in public. The two looked stunning together walking down the runway in black and white Hot Pants.

Next up was an Acoustic version of “Mean” which showcased Swift’s musical talent on guitar. The song, written for a particular bitter critic from the CD Speak Now, was performed at the end of the runway which rose up for this number to face the rear of the packed arena, the first of a few times this awesome affect would be utilized throughout the night. The singer then connected to the audience in a special way in what has become known as her “Clean Speech,” an opening up of sorts where Swift speaks about her own insecurities and also the crowd’s many choices in life. “There are enough ways in 2015 that someone else can tell you that you’re not good enough" she said and also added “Looking at this group of people, every single one of you has chose to not focus on the insecurities and the doubts and the fears, and the things that scare you about living your life every single day, you decided not to think about them, you decided to come here instead and have the best time ever at a concert on a Wednesday night.” The singer then segued into “Clean,” the last song on her current 1989 CD, co written with Imojean Heap.

For her smash hit “Love Story” Swift stayed solo on the elevated runway, dubbed “The Propeller” which then began rotating 360 Degrees to give each member of the audience an up close and personal look at the singer, a genius way of combining both an end stage setting with an in the round concert experience.

When it came time for the next special guest of the night Swift explained that the performer that was about to come out had never played a venue the size of Staples and that “She’s only played coffee houses before,” she then asked everyone to welcome Phoebe Buffay ( Lisa Kudrow from Friends ) to the stage who gave Swift some pointers mid song on how to get the right feel in singing the song “Smelly Cat”

After a rousing rendition of “Style” also from her current 1989 CD, it was time for the last special guest of the 5 night’s run and judging by the crowd’s eruptive applause to greet him, it was safe to say the best was saved for last. “I’m obsessed with his music, you’re obsessed with his music,” Swift said before bring Timberlake out to a still in the dark audience. “He’s been a great friend to me, and he will be remembered as one of the greatest musicians of our generation” she added. “I cant quite believe I’m about to say this but Justin Timberlake is here,” the pop star then walked out on stage through a curtain of sparks and immediately bowed down to the Staples Center audience before giving Swift a hug and then asked “Los Angeles, are you ready?” The duo sang “Mirrors” from Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience CD. The pair’s chemistry and admiration for each other was evident throughout the duet, culminating with Timberlake’s dropping of his microphone in mock disbelief at the end of the song.

Mega hits “Bad Blood,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” followed and Swift also displayed her talents on piano during “Wildest Dreams.” 1989’s “Out Of The Woods” closed the set and then a no holds barred encore of the mega hit “Shake It Off” with her crew of dancers on the elevated “Propeller’ catwalk rotating 360 degrees had the arena singing along in a confetti drenched finale to a most memorable night.

Last year, the North American portion of Taylor's sold out The RED Tour played to more than 1.36 million fans over 66 shows (including 13 stadium stops) in 47 cities in 29 states. Also in 2013, Taylor took The RED Tour Down Under -- performing sold out stadium shows in Australia (as well as arena dates in New Zealand), becoming the first solo female artist in twenty years to undertake a national stadium concert tour of Australia. In addition, The RED Tour visited Europe for six sold-out shows in 2014. Taylor Swift, who writes all of her own songs, is a global superstar, seven-time GRAMMY Award winner and the youngest winner in history of the music industry's highest honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. Taylor is the only artist in music history to have an album (2010's Speak Now, 2012's RED and 2014's 1989) hit the 1 million plus first-week sales figure three times. She is the first artist since the Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more weeks at #1 in the U.S. with three consecutive studio albums. Taylor has an album on Rolling Stone's prestigious The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time (by women) list, Time magazine has named her one the of the 100 Most Influential People in the world, and she is Billboard's youngest-ever Woman of the Year and the only artist to have been awarded this honor twice. Taylor has career record sales in excess of 30 million albums and almost 80 million song downloads worldwide, and has had singles top both the pop and country radio charts around the globe. Taylor's album RED (Big Machine Records), released two years ago, sold more than 1.2 million copies in the U.S. in its first week, scoring the highest first-week sales debut of any album in over a decade. "Shake It Off.” the first single off her critically acclaimed fifth studio album 1989, topped Billboard’s Pop, HotAC and Hot 100 charts and has earned double Platinum-status by the RIAA for exceeding sales of two million downloads in the U.S., and has peaked at No. 1 in 64 countries on iTunes. 1989 topped iTunes’ sales charts in 95 countries on its release and was the highest selling first week release of 2014.